Are Diet Soft Drinks Making You Unhealthy?

It used to be when clients asked about diet soda it was usually in reference to the artificial sweetener.  But recent headlines and reports linking diet soft drinks to lower bone density, metabolic syndrome, weight gain, and an increased risk of heart attacks & strokes have made the answer more complicated.Data collected by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center found that people drinking only diet soft drinks had a greater risk of obesity.  They found there was a 41% increased risk of being overweight for every diet soft drink consumed each day (Fowler).  As with many findings, the study does not prove that diet soda causes obesity; it just shows that something linked to obesity may also be linked to soda drinking - subject characteristics, diet & lifestyle choices, etc.A study of older adults found an association between drinking cola and lower bone mineral density in women but not in men.  A subsequent study of younger women found that women assigned to drink 24 oz of diet soda experienced significantly higher excretion of calcium and phosphorus as compared to women who were assigned to drink water.  Bone mineral density is associated with a negative calcium balance in the body.  Further studies have not been done comparing regular soft drinks to water or regular soft drinks to diet soft drinks.In 2007, a published study reported that people who drank one or more regular or diet soda daily were 48% more likely to develop metabolic syndrome, a precursor to heart disease and type 2 diabetes.  Soda drinkers were also at a greater risk of being obese and suffering from unhealthy cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.  This study did not distinguish between regular and diet soft drinks.Earlier this year splashy headlines reported that a large study done over nine years associated drinking diet soda daily with a greater risk of heart attack or stroke.  The findings were even more surprising when a similar risk could not be linked to regular (with sugar) soft drink consumption.  Now before going back to regular sodas it's important to look at the study closely.First, it's not clear if the negative health results are directly related to drinking diet soda or if they are associated with other habits or characteristics of study participants.  Many researchers think that it is more likely that people who are overweight or at a greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes or heart disease (family history, etc) will choose to drink diet soft drinks.  Researchers associated with the study also caution that the findings are preliminary and it would be irresponsible to extract dietary advice from the results.So before you give up your sugar-free drinks (even soda) it's important to remember that there are also studies linking a high consumption of sugar (or high fructose corn syrup)-containing drinks (fruit juice, soda, sports, etc) to such things as hypertension, certain kinds of cancers and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).  And if both the sugary & sugar-free drinks sound like a risk to you there's always coffee, tea and of course water - a great way to stay hydrated and it's naturally sugar-free!